


Keeping It Simple

by thealexiad



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M, alcohol mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 07:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4555380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealexiad/pseuds/thealexiad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Heading into BarWest on a warm August night, Aaron has an unexpected meeting, with even more unexpected results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeping It Simple

The familiarity of the pulsating music from across the street, of the blast of heat that met him as he opened the door even now failed to completely calm Aaron’s nerves as he entered BarWest. The discomfort, unlike the night he first walked through the bar’s doors, wasn’t with his own sexuality – rather, it was with his awareness that here, unlike in the homey comfort of the Woolpack, he was throwing himself into an environment full of unknowns, and, very much unlike in his mother’s pub, a significant portion of these unknowns might want more than conversation from him. Aaron certainly wouldn’t turn down some simple fun, but he himself knew better than anyone that chance rarely let him have ‘simple’.

Since he had returned from France Aaron hadn’t been back alone to BarWest more than two or three times, and as could be expected from a place with such a youthful client base the high turnover of patrons had eroded away most of the people – some of whom he might go so far as to call friends – he had met while he was here with Jackson. As he approached the bar Aaron thought to himself that this could in fact be a good thing, since Emmerdale itself was filled with more reminders of Jackson than he was sometimes comfortable with.

He ordered himself a pint before giving the room a quick scan, noticing to his chagrin that there didn’t seem to be any empty seats left and that the crowds around the pool tables were a bit too large for his liking. Looking again a couple more times Aaron finally spotted an open seat, and eager to set down his drink he started to make his way over. It was only when he arrived at the chair that he noticed it was sharing a table with a rather gloomy looking figure hunched over a drink.

It took Aaron an instant to figure out who it was from the ever-so-slightly ruffled hair and glasses that reflected the calm aquatic blues of the dance floor's lights, and then another instant to accept that the one table in the bar that had an empty seat also happened to have Finn Barton sitting at it. Not that Aaron resented Finn at all, but he certainly wouldn’t call their history rosy.

Still, since he was already here and wasn’t all that committed to being on the pull this night anyways, Aaron decided to make the most of it. “Oi, looks like I can’t even get away from t’village for one night.”

The Barton boy’s eyes rose to meet his, their disinterest quickly tinted by a tinge of annoyance. “This has to be some sort of joke.”

“Does’it look like it have many other options? I’m not out to mess you around again anyways, just figured it’d be nice to sit with someone who looks more miserable than me instead’a one of those rays of sunshine.” Aaron motioned towards a group of men laughing around a pool table.

Finn’s brows furrowed. “Oh, s’you admit that you were messing me around that first time?”

“Mate it’s been almost a year.” Aaron went in for his first sip.

“Doesn’t mean I have to forgive you.”

“Nah, it doesn’t.”

“ ‘s all fair anyways I s’pose, for you to leave a Barton hanging for a kiss after a Barton’s done th’ same to you.” Finn raised his half-finished pint to take a sip before setting it down next to another he’d already finished.

“You wot?” Aaron felt his shoulders tense slightly.

Finn raised his eyebrows at the mechanic. “You really surprised by that?”

Aaron took a moment before leaning back in his chair and taking another swig. “S’pose I shouldn’t be. You Bartons never can keep secrets for long, eh?”

Finn swirled the beer around in his glass, staring at it. “You’re not wrong.”

“Speaking o’ that, any word on your Ross?”

Finn’s eyes shot back up towards Aaron. “No, why’d you ask?”

“Just tryin’ to make conversation mate.”

“Well let’s try to stay off that topic, yeah?”

“If it suits you, sure.”

The two sat in silence for another minute or two, nursing their drinks and subtly trying to avoid eye contact.

Finn spoke first. “So…Robert?”

Aaron blinked out of his trance. “Really? After ya just said your brother was too sensitive a topic?”

“Fine fine, I’ll talk about the brother who slept with my other brother’s fiancée and who I helped to drive away. It’d be better than this silence at least.”

Aaron leaned in. “Go on.”

“Well, y’see, I sort of…knew he was sleeping with Debbie. Before the wedding.”

Aaron raised a skeptical eyebrow before taking another sip.

“I…well yeah I found out he was planning to run away with Debs. Some misguided sense of fraternal loyalty made me keep my mouth shut, and then finding out about Moses…” Finn buried his head in his hands. “It was me who told him to go Aaron. He’s gone now and it’s my fault. I should be relieved I know; he was nothing but trouble…even for me. But for some reason I just feel this, this guilt!”

Unsure how he should be reacting, Aaron continued to sit back in his chair, letting Finn carry on.

“I haven’t even heard…I haven’t heard anything yet! I – God this is embarrassing – I tried texting him. A few times. I thought he’d respond to me but I-I haven’t heard anything!”

“Hey…hey. ‘S not your fault. Finn!” The Barton brother lifted his face, his eyes meeting Aaron’s and seeing something he’d never thought he’d see in them – concern.

“You-you’re just saying tha-”

“No I mean it Finn. Guilt is…if you take on too much of it yourself, even though you might feel like you’re protecting other people, it’ll destroy ya in the end-”

“Jackson…”

“Yeah.” Aaron took a deep swig. “Yeah, I know a thin’ or two about guilt.”

Finn eyed the three empty glasses sitting on the table. “Next round’s on me.”

Aaron nodded. “Don’t let me stop ya.”

As Finn got up and left for the bar, Aaron leaned back and exhaled.

* * *

 

Finn came back, pints in hand, setting them down on the table very carefully, as if he were terrified he would spill them.

“You sure you can handle that, mate?” Aaron quipped.

Finn snorted. “In times like these? How could I not?” He took his seat and crossed one leg over the other. “It’s your turn now, you know.”

Aaron huffed. “What’s there to say? Guy’s a snake.”

“So that’s why you carried on for months then?”

Aaron sighed and took a sip of his second pint. “I’ll admit, it was fun. And then it became something…more.”

“He treated you mean and kept you keen, huh?”

“Sommat like that…I dunno though. I can’t explain it. I thought I saw myself in him – someone who didn’t know who they were, and would lash out ‘cause of it. Someone who had already gone a lot further down the path I was going before I came out. Someone who needed saving. Thought I could stop him from making some of the mistakes I made. Then somehow I could-”

“Redeem yourself?”

“You wot?”

“Well I mean…you were just talking about guilt. After everything you’ve been through, were you thinking that you could make up for what you thought you’d done? You think you don’t deserve-”

As Finn raised an accusatory finger, Aaron felt himself tense up. “You’re outta line mate. You’re drunk.”

“No I don’t think I-okay well maybe I’m drunk, but I’m right! Sure, maybe Robert made you happy sometimes, but that was just a bonus for you. You said it yourself, you wanted to fix him! It was your duty! Your penance!”

The Aaron of a few years now would have pounced in the state he was in, but now he was holding back, fuming in his chair. The worst part might have been that while Finn was being overdramatic with his histrionics, there was some truth in what he was saying. He had been willing to put aside his own happiness to try do what he thought would help Robert, without expecting Robert to do the same.

Finn had calmed down, and almost seemed to be shrinking into his chair in anticipation of some sort of retaliation on Aaron’s part.

“I dunno mate, maybe there’s somethin’ to what you’re saying, but I d-did care about him.”

“Yeah, well I care about you-”

Aaron’s face shot up, his eyes widened.

“No – no not in that way. I mean I feel like we got off on the wrong foot, what with your messing me around and everything.”

Aaron dipped his head and shrugged in agreement. “You’re saying you wanna be mates?”

“Yeah, yeah I’d say so. We’re the only gays in the village after all, aren’t we? Well the only out gays – though I mean Robert’s almost definitely bisexual from what I’ve heard of him, but you know what I mean.” Finn took a swig, looking down at his glass afterwards with a somewhat disgusted look of betrayal. He looked back at Aaron. “After all, with Ross gone and Pete more out of it than usual, I could use a mate.”

Aaron seemed to consider for a second, scratching around his lips for a moment. “I mean Adam’s straight nonsense can get to me more often than I’d like – it’d be nice to have someone to talk to sometimes. Not that I’m always big on talking, but you probably already know that.”

“Yeah well, I can talk enough for the two of us.”

“You’re not wrong there.” Aaron took another sip before noticing that Finn was staring off into space, swaying warily while wringing his hands. “Time to go home mate?”

All Finn could manage was a breathy “Yeah” before clutching the armrests of the chair to steady himself and stand up.

Aaron quickly swept in under his shoulder. “I got ya.”

* * *

 

Right outside the bar, Finn suddenly stopped and looked at Aaron, who knew what was coming next. The two shared a kiss, a little bit too tonguey on Finn’s part if Aaron had anything to say about it, that lasted for a couple seconds. As their lips parted, both drew their faces back, both scrunching their noses up a bit and shaking their heads, uttering in unison a decisive but friendly “No.”

They looked forward again and Aaron took on more of Finn’s weight as the bus approached. “You’re definitely going straight home mate, you’ve gotta be drunk if you were gonna make that sorta mistake again.”

The two laughed, both of them feeling a little bit lighter.


End file.
